Speed Dating
by DobbyRocksSocks
Summary: When Hermione manipulates Harry into a Speed-Dating event, he's not surprised when nothing comes of it. Weeks later, a surprise visit to St Mungo's might just change his mind.


**Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.**

**Written for Lissy Stage for the Gift Giving Extravaganza. I hope you like it :) **

**Also Written for;**

**Multiship Challenge - HarryDraco, Prompt - Sixty. **

**Favourite Character Challenge - HarryDraco**

**Easter Egg Hunt - HarryDraco**

**University Scholarship - HarryDraco **

**Word Count Without AN - 2432**

* * *

**Speed Dating **

"Seriously, Harry, you need to get out and do something," Hermione said quietly. Harry would have railed at the words if the weren't delivered in such a concerned fashion. He knew she cared, really he did, but sometimes he wished she just leave him be. It wasn't like he was unhappy with his life.

"I get out, Hermione. Every day. The way you talk, it sounds like I'm sitting in the house all alone with only a bottle of firewhiskey for company," he replied, holding his butterbeer aloft.

"The hospital doesn't count, Harry," Ron told him with a smirk.

"Does too count," Harry muttered. His work as a Healer was bloody important! Besides, he liked helping people. He was good at helping people. And if his bosses loved him because he didn't mind being constantly on call for emergences, well, that was an added bonus.

"Harry, please. Just one event, one night out, and I promise I'll leave you alone if that's what you want," she pleaded, and Harry sighed. He hated it when she did that, because he could never say no to her. Hermione and her bloody puppy dog eyes. Women!

"What event?" he asked, if only to prolong the inevitable. She was going to force him into going to the Ministry Memorial Ball. He knew it.

"Promise me, first?"

"Fine, I promise."

He saw a triumphant gleam in her eye as she suddenly stood from the table. "It's for tonight. Make sure you dress nicely. I have to go to work, but call me tomorrow and let me know how it goes."

With that, she passed him a flyer and high tailed it out of the Leaky Cauldron where the three of them had met for lunch. Harry picked the flyer up gingerly, turning it over so he could read the printed words.

As his head fell to the table with a loud bang, Ron's laughter filled his ears.

It was official. Hermione Granger hated him.

Bloody Speed Dating.

xxxx

Harry sat at the bar until the last possible minute, hoping with all his might that some emergency at the hospital would come through on his magical pager and get him out of what he was sure would be hell on earth. What on earth was she thinking, sending him to something like this. Ever since he'd admitted his gaze was more often drawn to men rather than women, she'd been trying to set him up with every Tom, Dick and Harry, but this was really taking it too far.

A bell rang and the host gave Harry a pointed look. Sighing at his bad luck, he picked up his water and took a seat at one of the set tables. He glanced around, checking to see if he knew anyone. At least then he might be able to get through a conversation before whoever decided they wanted him because of his name. The number seven currently pinned to his chest was better than a name tag, he had to admit, though really, who wouldn't recognise him? His face was still plastered all over the Daily Prophet at least once a week.

And Hermione wondered why he didn't go out much?

A brown haired man took a seat in front of him, a wide grin on his face as he held out his hand to shake Harry's.

"I'm Sam," the man said confidently.

Harry took the hand and shook it briefly, dropping it as soon as could be considered polite. "Harry."

"Well, of course I know who you are, I do read the paper's you know. You must lead such the glamorous life, I mean, only last week it was reported..."

Harry tuned out. He really didn't care about what the latest crap the papers had come up with about him, and really, was the guy in front of him an idiot? Was it supposed to impress him, this sycophantic behaviour?

"Are you listening to me?" The man asked suddenly.

Harry looked back at him with a bored expression. "Not really, no."

"Well! I've never been so insulted!"

Harry didn't have time to reply, not that he was inclined to. The bell rang and Sam moved over to the next table with a flounce, glaring at Harry all the way.

The next three dates were much the same, and Harry was itching to curse whoever sat in the seat before him next. This was torture.

"Potter," came a voice Harry recognised. He glanced at the chair in front of him to see the familiar figure of Draco Malfoy filling it.

"Malfoy," Harry replied in kind, a touch of warmth in his tone as he did.

"This has Granger written all over it," Draco said with a quiet chuckle, gesturing first to Harry then to the room at large.

"Hmm. How did Parkinson convince you that this would be a good idea?" Harry asked, an amused smile on his face. Draco rolled his eyes, but nodded his head conceding the point.

"Found the love of your life yet, then?" he asked.

Harry scoffed. "Some people need a high five... in the face... with a chair."

Malfoy laughed outright then. "Personally, I find stupidity far more fascinating than intelligence. After all, intelligence has it's limits."

Harry snorted. "No prospects for you either then?"

"If arseholes could fly, this place would be an airport," Draco replied blandly, making Harry choke on his water.

"And what do you know about Airports?"

"Ah, I heard Granger saying it one day in the Ministry. I asked her about it. I've always wanted to say that."

Harry nodded. "Hermione is the queen of the put down if you catch her on a bad day."

"That witch is scary," Draco agreed.

"So, do you think I've stayed long enough to be polite for the evening?"

Smirking, Draco stood up, Harry following suit. "I won't tell if you don't?"

With his first real smile of the night, Harry followed Draco from the bar. "You're on."

xxxx

"What on earth were you thinking?" Harry demanded as he straightened out his hair in the mirror. Hermione's head sat in the fireplace, watching him with barely concealed amusement.

"I was thinking that you needed to get out! So, how was it?"

"A bloody nightmare."

"Harry..."

"What do you want me to say, Hermione? They were sycophantic, ignorant, imbeciles."

"You sounded like Snape then."

"Yeah, well... if it means you'll leave me be then I'm okay with that."

"But Harry..."

"You promised."

Hermione pouted. "Fine. Doesn't mean I have to like it."

"You're right, you don't. Hermione, you don't have to worry about me. I'm perfectly happy with life as is. I don't need all these random dates, and god forbid, any more speed dating. Honestly, if I ever want to start dating, you'll be the first person I come to."

Hermione huffed but nodded her head. "We'll see you for dinner tonight?"

"As long as I'm not needed at the hospital. I'll send a Patronus at about five, okay?"

"Good enough. See you later, Harry. And stop playing with your hair. It'll never lie flat, so stop trying to make it. You're wasting your time."

Harry chuckled as her head disappeared from the fire. Checking the clock, he cursed. He had to be at work in ten minutes.

xxxx

Draco Malfoy didn't cross Harry's mind for almost a month after that, until he walked into a consultation room to find a frantic blonde holding his small son.

"Mr Malfoy? I'm here to take a look at Scorpius."

"Harry? Oh, I'm glad it's you, at least I know that you know what you're doing. Bloody nurses fussing around when they haven't got a clue," Draco rambled as he placed Scorpius gently on the bed.

Harry leant over slightly, running a few basic spells over the little boy. He was running a slight fever, and appeared to be a little dehydrated. "How long has he felt overly warm?" Harry asked, as he cast another, more thorough spell.

"No longer than an hour. He's been unusually quiet today, and he wouldn't eat or drink anything I offered him. He felt normal temperature when I checked him earlier, but when he lay down with his blanket on the floor, I knew there was something wrong with him."

As Harry read the results of his spell work, he sighed. Scorpius was the third child that week to be admitted for the same reason. "Scorpius seems to have contracted Dragonpox. He's in the early stage, and luckily, it's been caught before the spots have started showing. We can treat him before it gets that bad, so he won't have any scarring. I'll arrange for a room for him, we'll have to keep him in for seventy-two hours to make sure his system has been cleansed."

"DragonPox? But he's not due his inoculation for that for another six months!"

"Exactly. A lot of small children get it because until they hit four, it'd be dangerous for us to give them the inoculation. Draco, he'll be fine. You can stay with him if you want, though you'll have to scrub up."

"I'm clean, thank you very much!"

"Scrubs," Harry said, pulling at his uniform. He smiled when Draco looked sheepish. "And you'll have to use a sanitizing spell when entering and leaving his room."

Draco nodded in understanding, and Harry moved to the door. "I'll be back shortly, I'm just going to make sure we have a room ready for him."

Leaving the room, Harry couldn't help but smile. He'd never seen Draco look so... humanly ruffled. Of course, he knew that Astoria had left him two years before, apparently wanting no contact with him or Scorpius, but Harry could admit that he'd never really thought of Draco as the type to be a hands on Father. It was a sight to see though, and to Harry, Draco Malfoy had never looked more attractive.

xxxx

"And how is our little patient today?" Harry said with a smile as he entered the room, clipboard in hand. He was doing his final round of his shift, and it just so happened that Scorpius Malfoy was the last on his list.

Scorpius gave him the most adorable smile, clapping his hands around the floating bubbles that Draco was releasing from his wand to keep the little boy entertained.

"He's much better today," Draco said with a smile, his eyes still on his son. "His temperature is down, and he's more active."

Casting a spell to check for himself, Harry grinned when the results came back. "Indeed," he said, reaching a hand out to tickle Scorpius' belly, eliciting a giggle from the little boy, Harry nodded. "He's clear. You can take him home, he's perfectly healthy."

"You're sure?" Draco asked, looking a little unsure.

Harry laughed. "Draco, he's fine. The Dragonpox is gone, and I'm sure you know you're son well enough to know that he's in good health again. If you have any worries, you know where we are, you can fetch him back, but you won't need to."

Harry turned to Scorpius. "I bet you'll be happy to go home, won't you?"

Scorpius nodded with a cheeky smile. "Home, Daddy, time to go home!"

Draco softened, and nodded at Scorpius. "Time to go home, little man. Potter... Thank you."

"You're welcome," Harry said, waving at Scorpius as he turned to leave.

"Can I... Do you want to get a coffee?" Draco asked as Harry reached the door.

Harry frowned. "You really don't need to do that."

"I know but... I'd like to get a coffee. A real coffee, not the crap they serve here. And... I'd like you to come with us. I enjoyed your company at that hideous event a few weeks ago. And Scorpius likes you, don't you Scorp?"

Harry laughed as the little boy nodded his head rigorously. "Alright. Give me ten minutes to finish up, and I'll meet you here, okay?"

When Draco nodded, his cheeks a little flushed, Harry left the room.

xxxx

"He's certainly got his appetite back, anyway," Draco said in amusement, watching his son devour a second chocolate chip cookie. They'd been in the cafe for over an hour, and two coffee's later, Harry was struggling to stop himself from yawning. Draco must have noticed his latest attempt, because he quirked his eyebrow. "Am I boring you, Potter?"

Harry laughed. "Sorry. It's been a really long day," he apologised.

"I should probably take him home and give him a bath. I think he's wearing more chocolate than he's eaten."

"Probably. I'm sorry I'm not very good company. Sixty hour weeks will do that to a person," Harry replied, shrugging his jacket on.

"You can make it up to me by taking me to dinner next time you get a night off," Draco said, and his tone was so casual that Harry could tell it was forced.

"I could do that. Or you could come to my place with Scorpius and I'll cook for you?" he offered, trying to make it clear to Draco that he knew that Scorpius was part of the package and he was good with that.

Draco smiled. "Perhaps we could do that next time. I'd like a night to get to know you without little ears," he replied, and Harry knew he'd got the message Harry was trying to give him.

"Then that's what you shall have. Monday? I'm sorry, I normally work weekends."

"Monday is fine. Pansy will look after Scorpius, but if she can't, I'll owl you."

Harry nodded in understanding. Leaning over, he brushed his lips lightly against Draco's cheek. "I'll pick you up at seven. Bye little man," he said, waving his hand at Scorpius who waved back with chocolate covered fingers.

Leaving the cafe, Harry turned to see Draco watching after him with a small smile playing on his lips. Harry grinned. He never thought he'd be happy because of Speed Dating!


End file.
